Three New Lochans

We were treated to another red sunrise this morning, which is said to be a shepherd's warning of bad weather to come.  The picture shows the view across to Ben Hiant and Maclean's Nose with the 8.00am ferry to Tobermory just leaving Mingary Pier.  The ferry running at present is the Raasay, and as of today she's on the much more restricted winter timetable - see the West Ardnamurchan News site here for all local timetables.

Despite the red sunrise, we had another fine day forecast and no commitments, so we took to the hills again, this time in search of two of the remaining lochans we haven't visited which, together, are called, Lochain Dubha.  They lie in a valley to the south of Grigadale Farm, pictured here with Sgurr nam Meann rising behind the house, and the mountains of Rum in the distance.  We left our car on the road just off the picture to the right, and headed across the flat land drained by the Allt Grigadale, a bad mistake as the going proved very heavy across boggy land further broken by grass tussocks and heather.

For part of the way we walked along the banks of Loch Caorach, the sheep's loch.  The last time we visited this loch was on a miserable day back in May 2011 - blog entry here.  It's a large but shallow loch, with reeds growing all over it.  The picture makes it look as if the loch is part of the sea and the Lighthouse on an isthmus.

Lochain Dubha, the black lochans, the objectives of our walk, lie parallel to each other and are connected by a small burn at the left end, the further lochan draining into the nearer, which then drains northwards towards the Lighthouse.  This picture was taken from the slopes of Beinn nan Ord which, as we were in no hurry to make our way home, we had decided to climb.

From the summit, we looked north to Achosnich and Sanna, and beyond to the island of Eigg and, in the hazy distance, the Cuillins of Skye.  The hill we climbed yesterday is at the right.

Looking northeast from the summit of Beinn nan Ord in the direction of the Sonachan Hotel we could see another lochan.  This was also one we hadn't visited so, with plenty of time on our hands and the weather continuing fine, we decided to divert to it our way home.

It's a pretty little lochan tucked into a fold in the hillside, but it's another of our local features which, sadly, is not named on the OS map.  Beyond it, in the valley of the Allt Garbh dhalach - which means something like the stream of the rough field by the river - is some deciduous woodland, and it was towards this that....

....a small group of red deer hinds fled when they saw us descending the hill.  Other than a stag which we'd disturbed a little earlier in the walk and a couple of crows, they were the only wildlife we saw all day.